I turned 15 that year. I trusted everything I read in the newspapers and in news magazines. I thought the election of Richard Nixon was the worst outcome.

Of course I was wrong. I was 15. Historically speaking, Nixon was the best option. He was not a fascist who cracked heads. Instead he was a calming influence.

Beginning with Trayvon Martin, Bill Ayers protégée Barack Obama has spent the last four years fanning the flames of racial division beginning with Trayvon Martin. The Black Lives Matter protests likely are funded by a plutocrat, and are definitely organized by communists such as Ayers, and Obama protégée Van Jones. I am not saying those men are involved. I am saying people like them are.

President Obama should denounce the Chicago shutdown and remind people This Is Not Who We Are.

Or President 45 will and it will not be pleasant for Obama's supporters or his legacy. Think LBJ.

Democrats really fear Trump. They know he heads a true populist movement. He is growing a huge following, which threatens the system of billionaires buying off millionaire politicians. This is not about party labels or liberalism and conservatism. This is about preserving those do-nothing jobs and influence in Washington. The Establishment fired a warning shot on Friday.

Chris Matthews on MSNBC told Trump white boys have a lot of nerve by going to Chicago after dark.

MATTHEWS: When you set up rally in Chicago where it's mostly Hispanic and blacks, you knew there would be a lot of people that have the time to come out and protest your situation. It was no surprise here, was there in what happened? Given the venue of your event,

TRUMP: It shouldn't matter. You're the first one to say it. It shouldn't matter whether it was whoever lives in the city. It shouldn't make a difference. Whether it's white, black, Hispanic, it shouldn't matter.

MATTHEWS: They don't like what you're saying. They don't like what you're saying.

TRUMP: We shouldn't be restricted from having rally here because of ethnic make up or anything like that. I'm somebody that feels strongly it shouldn't make any difference. You usually feel that too. I'm surprised you're bringing this up because it shouldn't matter,

We live in a nation of our making.

Why did we make it one where white conservatives cannot rally in Chicago on a Friday night?

Friday night's successful shutting down of Trump's rally in Chicago is a turning point.. I do not know which direction we turn. I hope for the best.

Candidates you like get to carry out their rallies. Candidates you don't like get to do the same. This was once understood in America. Yes?

As did I. Once again I have to say how disappointed I am that Scott Walker left the race so early and that Carly Fiorina's message gained so little traction. I was leaning toward Ted Cruz after he got Florina's endorsement, but his attacks on Trump truly disappoint me. I was hoping as the other candidates dropped out and it became a two-man race, Cruz would offer a positive campaign message, but that is not the way things are turning out. His criticism of Trump was unnecessary and strategically misguided. IMO, a terrible misstep.

I saw this coming. I had a feeling that Cruz would end up siding with the establishment after posturing against it for so long. Decided to vote for Trump out of fear that Rubio would do better than cruz and Cruz would throw in with him. Saw it, too when he and Rubio ganged up on Trump during that debate and how the establishment dudes were crowing about it afterwards.

Actually, that's not what I heard from Cruz...and I've heard quite a bit this campaign season from all sides. The violent tone of both populist campaigns, Sanders and Trump, reflects an anger many Americans have with the unwillingness of the political establishment to meet the basic needs of citizens: secure borders, fair taxation policies, minimal Federal involvement in the lives of the people, and economic policies that favor no company or individual.But the leftist anger, and the Trump campaign response to that anger, is disturbing. What happened in Chicago (not unexpected as it is the epicenter of leftist violence over the last 50 years) was a directed attack by enemies of liberty: Chicago ANSWER, Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Rights Reform, and La Raza Chicago—all Soros fronts in the war on America. Do I blame Trump for this instance of violence? No. He is, though, responsible for the anger he expresses and the timbre of his words.When considering the little outbreaks of violence at Trump’s rallies, it is necessary not only to blame the lefties who hate Trump. It is also necessary to consider the tone, the atmosphere, the spirit that Trump creates among his supporters.What about that Trump supporter who assaulted a protestor and then said, “Next time we might have to kill him”? What about the current of exhortations to violence that course through Trump’s rhetoric? And speaking of Brownshirts, what about the rallies where he encouraged a whipped up crowd to extend their right arms in Nazi-like salute while pledging allegiance to the Great Leader?Ted Cruz the way a conservative should. “The responsibility for that [turmoil] lies with protesters who took violence into their own hands.” But the story does not end there. For, as Cruz went on to observe, “in any campaign responsibility starts at the top. . . . there’s no doubt that a candidate bears responsibility for the culture that is set from the top.”Cruz understands American democracy more deeply. Candidates for the presidency are not vying to be kings. They are submitting job applications to us, the people. It is for them to pledge allegiance to us, their sovereigns, not for voters to pledge allegiance to the candidate. All this is utterly lost on the “republican” populists that gravitate to Donald Trump. But it lies at the very center of our freedom. This is something that Ted Cruz understands and Donald Trump, if he does understand it, rejects.Cruz is a conservative, Trump a populist Democrat in Republican clothing. Make a wise choice, not an angry one.

"What about the current of exhortations to violence that course through Trump’s rhetoric? "

And especially that violent rhetoric at a very recent rally when Trump stopped speaking to let--actually asked--a protester in the audience to speak up and be heard? That's bound to agitate Trump's supporters in the crowd to hear the words of a protester in their very midst, putting people in grave danger.

When an unruly mob of Democrats riots, it's a mere "protest", but when a lone Trump supporter gets out of hand in the heat of the moment and says something Trump himself would disown, it's now a Nazi rally. I call Godwin's Law.

I invite Ayers to attend a Trump rally, go inside, and personally stand on a flag. It would solve a lot of problems if he would just do that. But it's probably too much to hope for. Normally, guys like that are not personally very brave, so they get useful idiots to stand on the flag instead. James Rector comes to mind?

Remember, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, bur names will not harm me". That was the childhood 1st Amendment belief and parent taught it to their children. Our country has forgotten that ideal and we are paying for it.

About Me

I live in Poca, West Virginia, with my lovely wife of 40 years, Lou Ann. I am an Army veteran and Cleveland State graduate. I retired after 40 years as a newspaperman. In 2016, I published "Trump the Press," which drew rave reviews at Power Line and Instapundit.